


Ruffled Feathers

by alphai



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphai/pseuds/alphai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He would still be afraid of her, no matter what she did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ruffled Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> and now for something else entirely

His small arms couldn't do much to protect him, he learned that a long time ago.

Anyone who walked into this room would have a hard time making out the form of the eight year old boy underneath the blankets. The bed was far too big for him, made to seem even bigger because of how much he had curled up once the door closed. Garfield had kept up his confidence until he was alone, but once the members of the Doom Patrol had agreed to let him stay (at least for a little while), he had reverted back to the habits he had developed during the time spent with Galtry.

Heavy footsteps passed by and he pulled the blanket more tightly around his thin body. He knew he wouldn't be able fight off an adult. He was too small and frail from being malnourished and kept inside for two years, not to mention how exhausted he was after using his powers in quick succession just hours ago. For his third time using them at all, he hadn't done too bad, but it had taken a lot out of him.

The walls muffled the actual words being spoken, but he could still hear could hear two of the adults talking. Probably Mento and Negative Man. Garfield could feel his heartbeat in his ribs, his hands shaking, not sure if he wanted to know what they were talking about or not. He took a deep breath and winced from the pain, one hand moving to grip at the fading bruises on his side.

In retrospect, he probably should have asked for help with those, but he was used to falling asleep injured. That had been the norm for him for a while now.

* * *

Now there was Raven.

It was always something subtle. Fearful glances whenever she was in a bad mood, shifting away from her whenever they sat next to each other at the table, moving to walk along the opposite side of the hallway whenever they crossed paths. When he was feeling vulnerable, he would try anything to make himself smaller. It was part of his artificial animal instincts. She wasn't quite a predator, and he wasn't quite the prey. But regardless of any metaphors, the fact still remained that he was afraid of her.

She didn't notice. Or, if she did, she never said anything about it. Maybe it was secretly what she wanted, or maybe she was secretly ashamed but had no idea how to tell him.

He knew it was pathetic, a teenager with shapeshifting powers being afraid of another teenager with telepathic abilities, but she reminded him far too much of the people who had hurt him in the past. Not that he would ever tell her that.

There was a familiar, distinct timidness to the way he moved today. Maybe it was a nightmare from the night before that he had now forgotten, maybe it was just an aura coming off of her that told him to be more wary, but today was one of his weak days. Beast Boy all but clung to the wall as he made his way towards the kitchen for breakfast, his eyes trained on his shoes as they tapped down the hall. His ears perked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, but he made no effort to see which team member it was.

"You're up late." The voice made him freeze in his tracks.

He was already tired. Waking up at three in the morning over a nightmare and having to spend an hour taming the mutated beast that was still lurking in his subconscious left him completely drained already. He didn't want to deal with Raven today.

"Would you believe me if I said I actually took my time getting ready today?" He turned to her, cracking a fake smile that he had perfected over the years.

"No, I wouldn't." Her face stayed blank of any expression. Somehow that was worse than her looking angry. "Because you look exhausted. Please tell me you weren't up all night playing video games again."

"Geez," Beast Boy huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'd say you sound like my mom, but she was  _ way _ nicer."

He hadn't meant to say that, and he could feel the regret bubbling up as soon as he finished the sentence. Raven's blank stare changed to a very obvious scowl.

His reflexes were faster than most, but he still had no time to react before her palm struck him across the face. He didn't hear the sharp sound of the contact over the ringing in his ears. By the time he managed to pull himself together and actually understand what had happened, she was staring at him with the same cold expression that she usually wore. One of his hands moved up to cover the growing red mark over his cheekbone while he struggled to hide the shaking in his other one.

"Stop acting like a child," she said. "How is it that your attitude hasn't changed in all of the three years you've been here?"

Beast Boy held his tongue between his teeth, looking away from her and curling his free hand into a tight fist. This slap had actually hurt more than her usual ones, or maybe he was just particularly on edge today. Whatever the reason, he could feel his throat tighten, and he ducked his head to avoid answering.

"You're not even going to bother with an excuse?" Raven continued. He wasn't really listening by this point, only focusing on keeping himself together until she left. "I'm shocked. Normally you take any given opportunity to explain why you act like this. Do you have any intention of changing? Do you ever plan on taking this seriously?"

"I get it." It wasn't quite a whisper, but it was definitely quieter than his normal tone.

"I don't think you do. You're always trying to brush off any responsibility we give you unless it's something you're personally interested in, you hardly train anymore, you sleep longer than you're supposed to—even when it isn't winter—and you're never on time for mission briefings."

"I know."

"Do you? Because from my perspective, this has only gotten worse over time. You're supposed to be a superhero, but all you've been acting like recently is a lazy, arrogant brat."

"Raven—"

"And I have no idea why. None of us do. We've given you everything you could need, we've helped you with your powers, and we even have Terra considering joining the team again. What more do you need from us?"

"I need you to  _ stop! _ "

Normally he would blame that sort of voice crack on puberty, but it wasn't viable as an excuse this time. His ears were turned downward, his lip quivering, and he knew his entire facial expression could be used as a textbook definition for the word "pathetic."

"J-just stop  _ doing this _ to me," he continued, trying to make himself sound as put together as possible and probably failing horribly. "Stop...stop  _ hitting me _ and lecturing me and insulting me and—"

His quick, shallow breaths made him stop mid-sentence. He didn't want to cry over this. He hated crying. Galtry had quite literally beaten into him that emotional weakness was shameful, and showing it in front of  _ Raven _ would likely have the same response. Not to mention that any serious negative emotion could still bring that mutated beast out of his subconscious.

"I n-need to be alone," Beast Boy said quickly, darting to the other side of the hallway to avoid bumping shoulders with her as he started to walk quickly back to his room.

"Garfield, wait—"

" _ You don't get to call me that! _ " That one word had made him give up any attempt at trying to keep his anger under control. He turned on his heel in an instant, any hint of fear replaced by pure rage as his pupils dilated into slits. She had no right to call him by his name.

_ No right to even speak. No right to share a home.  _ **_No right._ **

For once, Raven actually looked afraid of him.

"You can't call me that if you don't have  _ any _ idea what I've gone through!" His teeth were sharper as he went back to her, not wanting to get up in her face, knowing that he would shift into something that was capable of throwing her through a wall if she tried to hit him again. He was already two seconds away from changing. "And every time you talk to me, you just make it even  _ worse! _ "

"Fine," she said simply. "Then tell me. What happened to you?"

She was talking like a therapist. The same condescending-but-pretending-to-be-helpful tone that Rita had used before  _ she _ learned that it absolutely did not help. Beast Boy practically growled in the back of his throat, screwing his eyes shut to prevent himself from changing form and lashing out at her.

"I watched my parents die." He kept his eyes shut, voice low. "There was a flood. Their boat went over a waterfall. I couldn't turn into anything bigger than me yet. They told me to fly away and save myself, so I did. I was  _ six _ ."

He opened his eyes on the last word, looking up at her and meeting her expression. He didn't care enough to try reading what it was. Some mix of surprise and pity that he never wanted to see.

"I got set up with a legal guardian," he continued, definitely not calm but not able to stop talking about it now. "Nicholas Galtry. But I guess no one ever did a background check on the guy, or they just didn't  _ know _ that he was going to use me as a punching bag. I already blamed myself for what happened to my parents, but he drilled that into me  _ every day _ ."

"I thought the Doom Patrol adopted you." Raven's tone of voice was just as hard to read as her face.

Beast Boy scoffed and shrugged. "Only after I got tired of Galtry trying to kill me. I ran away and broke into their base."

"Is he still out there?"

"Probably." He turned to meet her eyes, glaring again. "But that's not the point. I got my share of being beat on by someone for no reason, not to mention how emotionally stunted Mento was and the expectations he put on me. I don't need more of that from  _ you _ ."

"I didn't know, I'm—"

"Don't say you're sorry, just…" He was calmer now, that one outburst leaving him too emotionally tired to handle talking to her further. "Just  _ please _ leave me alone."

He took a step back, waiting for her to protest. When she didn't, he sighed and continued down the hall to his room again.

Telling her wouldn't change anything, he realized, his shoulders hunched, his feet heavy. Maybe she would stop the physical and verbal abuse, but that wouldn't make them friends. Raven was just never going to be someone that he could get along with. She had already proven how similar to Galtry she was in personality. That connection would never fade.

He would still be afraid of her, no matter what she did.

**Author's Note:**

> this ship is abusive as fuck and nothing will ever make it healthy and if you support it _i seriously do not trust you_
> 
> edit: if youre confused about gars backstory, that was all canon in the comics. the cartoon was made for kids and definitely wasnt going to include mentions of parental death or abuse.


End file.
